"Well, you don't have to if you don't want to.... G'd-night." "Yes, I do," Nat told Tracey's back. "The rules say so. If the girl asks me, I must." He grimaced ruefully beneath his wisp of a moustache. "Anyhow, I've got a few months left...." XVIII A BARGAIN IS A BARGAIN So the winter wore away.... And as spring drew nigh upon our valley, Duncan seemed to grow perturbed, even as he had been in the autumn before Betty went away. He was pondering another scheme for the betterment of the condition of those he cared for, and gave it ample consideration before he broached it to old Sam, after swearing him to secrecy. He had to propose nothing more or less than an abandonment of the old Graham housekeeping quarters above the store and a removal of the _menage_ bodily to a vacant house on Beech Street, near the store, which could be rented, partly furnished, at a moderate rate. To begin with (thus ran his argument) the store itself was growing too small for the volume of business it commanded. More room was needed, both for storage and laboratory purposes, to say nothing of accommodation for Sam's models and work-bench. The latter had already been moved upstairs for the winter, the shed in the backyard being too cold to work in; and the laboratory end of the business was growing at such a rate that it was crowding the prescription counter to the wall--so to speak. You see, there really wasn't a more clever analytical chemist in the northern part of the State than Sam Graham, and now that the drug-store was becoming an influence in the neighbourhood he was receiving commissions from physicians operating in districts as far as fifty miles away. So a room was needed for that branch of the business alone. Moreover, a separate residence distinctly befitted the dignity of a man who was at once a prominent inventor and one of Radville's leading merchants (vide a "Personal" in the late issue of the Radville _Citizen_), to say nothing of the social position of his daughter--meaning Betty. And the house Duncan had his metaphorical eye upon was large enough to shelter Nat himself in addition to the Graham family. Thus they might pool their living expenses to the economical advantage of each. Finally, it would be a great and glad surprise for Betty on her homecoming.